Attendence Rumbles at Hong Kong Disneyland

Some interesting news coming out of Disney’s newest Theme park. The park management is denying attendence is poor, but they’re lowering ticket prices for Hong Kong residents. They can deny low numbers all they want, but lowering admission prices is only done to help raise attendence numbers. Getting more people through the gates means you sell more merchandise and food, which is where the lion share of profit is made. If you’re product is good hopefully those people will tell their friends and neighbors and they’ll come too. But if you’re selling tickets to an overcrowded park, that last part won’t happen. So it would make no sense to lower ticket prices if there weren’t attendance problems.

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5 thoughts on “Attendence Rumbles at Hong Kong Disneyland”

I have never understood Disney’s quest for expansion. Sure, there is the almighty dollar, and as much as I like to think it is “magic” that makes them tick I think we’ve all seen enough to prove otherwise. However, in my opinion, all of these oversea parks just take away from the mystic of the U.S. parks, on a world stage anyway. Besides, they appear to stretch the company thinner rather than making it fatter (in the wallet). Why can’t they just put the focus on the U.S. parks and work on revamping the shortcomings there?

From what I’ve heard at various talks by Disney Execs it has to do with Market Penetration. Other entertainment and themepark companies were planning on building in those areas so it was important for Disney to get in there and establish their brand. Part of what Disney is fighting in Hong Kong Disneyland is the fact that so few Chinese mainlanders know about Disney characters. Mickey Mouse yes, but chip and dale or Pocahontas, probably not.

Do I think that opening all these foreign parks is diluting the companies profits? No. It’s probably narrowing the margins for each park by itself, but to the extent that they successfully tap new markets, they’re growing profitability. Am I sad to see ‘Disneyland’ or Magic Kingdom clones everywhere. You bet. But it’s the crown jewel until they come up with something better (like that will ever happen).

Hi! I’m Spanish and having Disneyland Paris was both heartbreaking and a dream come true for me. The first because they thought quite roughly opening it in Spain, and the second because I always wanted to go to a Disney park.

Definitely EuroDisney was a great park, but it’s cheapening lately. I’ve been there 5 times (I live in southern Spain, so going for Paris is a big trip) and everytime I go the thing is worse. The park is always full, and I’ve been there in different seasons, but there are less and less characters walking by the streets, and the new WDStudios ain’t worth a dime. You’re paying as much as in Disneyland for a ticket, and you don’t get a quarter of the original park. Fortunately, last time my holidays package included a ticket for both parks, because I would have felt really angry had I paid for it directly.

What I mean is that Disney Parks outside the USA is a good thing, since not everybody can go to America, what is bad is that the company isn’t treating them as the real thing, if you know what I mean.